Flood waters come closer to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on May 3 (photo: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean).

The common denominator is water.

Water on the wooden circle scuffed by Hank Williams’ own boot heels. Water bending hundreds of wooden instruments at Soundcheck Nashville rehearsal studio, and halting production of Gibson guitars. Water destroying historical documents at the Grand Ole Opry House and at WSM-AM’s Opryland Hotel offices.

For musical Nashville, much — no one is sure how much — has been lost to this water.

The Grand Ole Opry House is a soggy mess. On Tuesday, water covered the Opry House floor, save for four rows of seats in back. Water covered the stage, including the legendary six-foot circle of wood taken from the Opry’s old Ryman Auditorium home and placed into the Opry House’s stage for its 1974 opening. The circle may be broken. Guitars and rhinestone suits were ruined as the water filled backstage halls, lockers and dressing rooms. Tuesday night, the Opry would still be held at downtown’s War Memorial Auditorium; the Opry is a show, not a building, emphasized Opry vice president and general manager Pete Fisher.

For what will likely be months, at least, that show will move between several venues. This weekend, it’s at the Ryman. It will air, as always, on WSM-AM 650, a station that is now broadcasting from its Brentwood transmitter site rather than its usual home at the Opryland Hotel. WSM’s Opryland studio remains dry, but its nearby offices were soaked up to the third floor. Papers, archives and memories. All gone but the last.Continue reading →

Hamilton has done much for Nashville music in his Opry half-century. He recorded enduring hit “Abilene,” he introduced country audiences to songs by Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell, and he became country’s first real international ambassador, bringing the music behind the Iron Curtain and across the globe. He’s also developed a well-earned reputation as a person of significant intelligence and decency.